Triathlon group gets boost

The CNMI’s Tyce Mister does the bike leg of a triathlon event held early this year. (Kimberly A. Bautista)

After years of waiting, the Triathlon Association of the CNMI was finally granted associate membership to the Oceania Triathlon Union during the 2019 International Triathlon Union Congress in Switzerland last month.

The membership is a big boost to the triathlon group, especially now that it will be preparing for the CNMI’s hosting of the 2021 Pacific Mini Games. TRAC president Ricky Castro said the affiliation will give the CNMI access to the vast resources of the international federation, which is useful when developing a local federation, like TRAC, from scratch.

“As we prepare to host triathlon in the 2021 Pacific Mini Games, this will open the gates for developing the sport in the CNMI by having access to coach development, event management, training opportunities for our triathletes here and abroad, and competitions off-island,” said Castro.

TRAC was granted membership after waiting for nearly three years. When asked why it took so long, Castro explained that the first time TRAC applied to become part of the union, they were denied because a provision in the ITU constitution that was added back in 1995 established that only member countries recognized by the International Olympic Committee or United Nations could become a full member.

“The Northern Mariana Islands is not recognized as a country by the IOC, nor by the UN, therefore, our application did not fulfill the requirements of the ITU constitution and we were denied at first,” he said.

Fortunately, back in 2018, the ITU Congress amended the constitution to allow territories to become members, too.

“During the 2018 ITU Congress in Gold Coast, Australia, they amended the constitution by allowing territories to be an associate member of ITU and World Triathlon Corporation. Then, last month, Mr. Barry Siff (former president of USA Triathlon and ITU Board member) sent an email that we were approved to join as an associate member of ITU under Oceania Triathlon Confederation,” he said.

Castro said the acceptance of TRAC into the union was made possible by a number of people who advocated for them.

“On behalf of TRAC, our utmost appreciation goes to Mike White of NMASA for the advice, the support of ITU executive board member Barry Shiff, Peter Hedge of Triathlon Australia and ITU Oceania Regional Representative, ITU vice president and Japan Triathlon Union official Shin Otsuka, Tomas Carrasco Jr., president of Triathlon Association of the Philippines, and Noriko Yamakura of Japan Triathlon Union,” Castro said.